CHENNAI: The Delhi HC issued a notice to the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) along with other respondents and asked it to file a reply on submissions made by its Rajasthan unit during a hearing on Thursday.
The Rajasthan Equestrian Association made the submissions in response to counter affidavit submitted by the EFI. The respondents have been given two weeks to reply to the notices. The court also fixed April 15 as the next date of hearing.
The federation had submitted the counter affidavit in response to a writ petition filed by the Rajasthan unit challenging its functioning in blatant disregard to the 2011 sports code. The state unit via the petition had also requested the court to stop the EFI from conducting elections, which was eventually held last year.
Earlier in the day, the EFI’s counsel requested for an adjournment citing extension of its recognition given by the sports ministry till March 31, 2020. Accusing the ministry of adopting different approaches for violation of sports code by different National Sports Federation’s (NSF), the petitioner requested the court to direct the ministry to constitute an ad-hoc committee, jointly with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), to discharge functions and administration of the EFI.
“It is not understood as to how the sports ministry can take different approaches for violation of sports code by different NSFs. The actions of the ministry in case of EFI clearly show bias and further establishes that the so-called opportunity granted to the federation to submit a “road map” is nothing but an eye-wash and an attempt to somehow stall the proceedings in the present writ,” said the petitioner.
It cited action taken against the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) by the ministry. “Recently, in the case of the RFI, the ministry de-recognised the federation as an NSF for violating the sports code during its elections held in December. The ministry also wrote to the IOA to constitute an ad-hoc committee to discharge the functions of RFI.” Ashish Kothari, the petitioner’s lawyer, said based on their argument the court issued the notice asking them to file a reply within two weeks. The petitioner also requested the court to get statutes of the EFI amended.